U.S. Death Sentences Hit 30-Year Low in 2003

• Numbers Drop to  144 in 2003

The number of people sentenced to death reached a 30-year low in 2003, when the Death Row population fell for the third year in a row, signaling the continuation of a slow trend away from state- and federally ordered executions, according to data released yesterday by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. Last year, 144 inmates in 25 states were given death penalty sentences, 24 fewer than in 2002 and less than half the average of 297 between 1994 and 2000, according to the Justice Department. Death penalty opponents say the report shows how wary the public is of executions, heightened by concerns about whether the punishment is administered fairly and by publicity of those wrongly convicted. In 2003, Illinois emptied its death row after several inmates were found to be innocent. The number of executions that were carried out also dropped, from 71 in 2002 to 65 in 2003, while the average length of time between Death Row sentencings and executions continued to grow. More than 40 percent of those on Death Row are now imprisoned in three states -- California, Texas and Florida -- while more than two-thirds of the executions were carried out in Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. [more] and [more]